Apple Brings Geotagging to iPhoto Via Google Maps

In a clever move, Apple has leveraged the power of the Google Maps API (our Google Maps API Profile) to provide geotagging capabilities for iPhoto 2009, the latest version of its popular photo management software. Announced by Phil Schiller at MacWorld 2009, iPhoto 2009 is packed with several new features, including 'Places' which gives users the ability to easily assign geographic coordinates to their photos.

Keir Clarke over at Google Maps Mania has a detailed post that provides general background and a review of the geotagging/mapping features:

iPhoto imports location information from your digital camera and can then show you this location on Google Maps. If your camera doesn't have GPS capabilities you can simply add locations manually with iPhoto.

iPhoto is also able to tag your photos by location and by nearby points of interest. For example if your location data shows that a photograph was taken near the Eiffel Tower iPhoto will automatically tag your picture 'Eiffel Tower'.

The video below from MacWorld includes Schiller's introduction of the Places feature (along with two other new features: Faces and Events)

Existing online photo services such as Flickr, Panoramio, and Picasa currently support geotagging as well, but for many users the ability to geotag and visualize photos directly from iPhoto is certain to be an appealing option. We feel this is a great example of a new desktop app integrating a Web 2.0 API to produce a hybrid mashup, and we look forward to seeing the release of additional desktop applications that leverage Web 2.0 APIs.